


Software Instability

by GlinteHjelm



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series), Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Androids, Crossover, Deviants (Detroit: Become Human), Fluff, Gen, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Summer Camp, dadvid
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2019-09-30 19:54:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17230199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlinteHjelm/pseuds/GlinteHjelm
Summary: The figure bows down to him with a smile too big and stretches out a freckled hand for him to take, a sign of greeting somebody politely. He snorts and ignores the hand as if it never was there. That doesn’t seem to bother the figure, as it only smiles wider.“Hello Max, I presume, I am your camp counselor David and welcome to Camp Cambell! I am sure we’ll get to know each other well and have a spectacular time together this summer!”Max frowns deeply, dropping his bag to the ground in an agitated manner.“I can’t believe they have a fucking android here.”





	1. Welcome to Camp Cambell

He’s so incredibly tired, not only because he couldn’t sleep properly at night, but just mentally exhausted in general. As he gazes out at the tall trees the bus rapidly drives by, he sighs, resting his heavy head against the warm glass the early morning sun touches. The weather is immensely hot today, but not hot enough to melt the stubbornness away from his body as he clings his worn-out hoodie closer to him. It’s the only comfort he can find in this pathetic little world.

The bus comes to a sudden stop, or not so sudden seeing as they’ve been driving for maximum two hours, and obviously had to stop somewhere. They are officially out where even the crows turn around, he concludes in his head. The noise that has been tormenting the peaceful silence since the boy stepped into the bus is slowly returning, meaning of course that the other kids are on their way to leave the buss. He spots them in the corner of his eye. They look so cheerful, ready for an exciting adventure this summer. He hopes for the worst for them.

It’s silent. Only him and his sweet bitterness. The headache that was forming inside his skull is satisfied at last with the peace soothing it. Right until he hears footsteps clattering towards him.

“You gotta join the others, kid.” He barely reacts, barely looks at the adult standing before him. He just jumps down from his warm seat and swings his backpack over his shoulder and makes his way to the ordered meeting point. The many sounds of nature swarms around him as soon as he steps outside, it’s such disturbing sounds, he can’t help it but cringe. His eyes meet no other kids, the area is empty and cuddled close by large trees, but as he stares straight ahead, he catches sight of a pair of… legs?

He tilts his head up to catch sight of the stranger’s face, but he isn’t even halfway before his mind goes ‘oh no’.

The green shirt with the clear blue triangl-y symbol on the chest, which is most definitely supposed to appear as a tree clings to the slim body. A brown leather vest which seems way too small shines in the sun and looks far too hot for his liking. Then there’s the yellow-orange-whatever color it precisely is, he doesn’t care, wrapped around a freckled throat as a cheery on the top of the cake. Oh- but he forgets the simple blue circle built into the temple which is the firework to the party.

The figure bows down to him with a smile too big and stretches out a freckled hand for him to take, a sign of greeting somebody politely. He snorts and ignores the hand as if it never was there. That doesn’t seem to bother the figure, as it only smiles wider.

“Hello Max, I presume, I am your camp counselor David and welcome to Camp Cambell! I am sure we’ll get to know each other well and have a spectacular time together this summer!”

Max frowns deeply, dropping his bag to the ground in an agitated manner.

“I can’t believe they have a fucking android here.”


	2. He's an It

He is by no means prepared for this. He is almost trembling by sheer anger and shock alone, his head is swarmed with insults, nasty words that would paint the world dark and harm the delicate forest with toxins if they ever came to see the light of day. And that thing- android, as the blue circle engraved into its temple proves it to be, not human, oversees a summer camp. A cold machine that feels and follows nothing but its programming, built by a simple human being whom decided they felt like playing God.

”You’re fucking kidding me- you’re fucking kidding me!” Max practically screeched into the face of a walking-talking-mobile phone. It- what was it called again? David- does not seem fazed at all by the negative reaction. In fact, the fucking toaster grins wider as it reaches out to pat the clearly agitated kid on the shoulder. Of course, Max winces away as soon as the android moves only a centimetre towards him.

„You really should watch your language, kiddo! Research by professionals show that swearing-„Max decides he’s not having this and pushes the super-computer away from him to dash as far as possible away from him. He feels as if his tiny body has been carefully dipped into acid. His insides are burning up and he’s sweating nervously. He cannot believe this, it’s almost too horrible to be true. He knew the world was a cruel place, but damn.

Max briefly glances over his shoulder to make sure the David android isn’t stalking after him, like some sort of psychopathic murderer or a carnivore. But turning his focus on everything but the road ahead of him proves to be a mistake, as if Karma is watching over his every move, he crashes into a pair of legs as soon as he turns his head. The tiny body of Max collapses onto the dirt on his side, and his head dives straight for a stone tugged into the ground, sized large enough to make it hurt if his temple decides to kiss it.

He shuts his eyes and waits for the pain to knock him out, or hopefully knock him out before the pain sinks in, like claws sinking into flesh from a carnivore. Not many seconds passes by, but he waits with dread drowning his lungs for the fall. A fall that never happens-

Out of reflex, Max opens his eyes for the world once again. He is somewhat glad that he doesn’t need to shut his eyes again due to the sun burning his sight, gosh he doesn’t want to look like one of those stupid patients on tv-series, where in which they wake up from a coma and their eyes flies up like a zipper but needs to zip up quickly again because of the bright light, or whatever, not that he has actually wasted his time on watching such. But he is just as annoyed with the sight of a freckled face smiling into his face, two freckled hands holding his body not far from the ground with gentle care.

God, Lord, that goofy, weird ass face was way too close to him. Didn’t androids have any perspective on personal space, or was this one just defective? Max mentally noted to file a complaint letter to the company behind the design of this thing.

“That was a close one! You could’ve gotten some serious damage from that fall, kiddo. You should always have your eyes on th-“ Max wiggles aggressively out of its grasp before the android can finish the sentence.

“Holy shit, what the hell is going on here, and this early in the morning.” Another new voice registers itself in the little boy’s head, and as soon as he gets back on his feet, he glances back at the frowning figure towering over him. He takes a couple of steps back to create some safe distance between them.

Max scans the woman, for a brief moment wondering in the back of his mind, who is truly the android here, and decides he can put some sort of trust into the lady, seeing no visible robo-halo on her temple or anything non-human. She raises an eyebrow at those untrusting eyes, not the slightest affected at all. Instead she turns to the android standing by her side, who is smiling like an idiot for no apparent reason besides the fact it is programmed to do so.

“Alright, what’s going on David.” She questioned with annoyance dripping from her voice. David immediately turned to her with the same stupid smile plastered on his face. “Hello Gwen! I was only welcoming the last camper on the list to the camp, but difficulties arose, and I have concluded that Max might not be very fond of me, despite having only been in my presence for three minutes and sixteen seconds.”

“Knowing you? Ha! What’s there to know, which bolts and screws you use? You’re a fucking robot, not a living being!”

“Language kiddo! Research by professionals show-“

Suddenly the David android goes stiff, not saying anything, not doing anything, the blue halo on its temple suddenly glowing bright yellow. Just looking into the air with that overly friendly smile. Max doesn’t have a clue about what’s happening, but Gwen just stands patiently by his side, for a moment she raises her wrist to check the time. Perhaps the android broke, or a screw literally fell loose, which makes Max snicker quietly at the thought.

Gwen sighs, then turns her attention towards Max once again with a dead look in her eyes that screams ‘I’m wasting my life’. “Come on kid, this will probably take a while.” she groans quietly as she makes way to the other campers in the big building. Max easily catches up with her, a question tugging at his lips to ask.

“What the hell is up with it? Did a screw actually fall out of it?” Max couldn’t help but smirk.

“Nah, he does that all the time. He is just rebooting, being an old model and all.” She answered casually. Max could almost ignore the itch it caused for the camp counselor to address the android as a ‘he’.

“How old?”

“About thirteen years old now, I think, not that I keep track anyway. I’ve only worked here for three.” She shrugged.

“Well if it’s just an old piece of damaged plastic, why not just buy a new one?”

Gwen couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the obvious question. “Look kid, I don’t think you have any idea how expensive those things are. We are a summer camp, not some fancy company. We’re not earning what we probably could earn just by working in a creepy motel, and David doesn’t even earn anything in the first place, and the boss is probably doing shady money laundering based on this camp.”

Max grinned, pleased to hear the information. “You’re not afraid to be honest. I like you.”

Gwen sends him a half-hearted glare. “Whatever, kid. Now go join the others in the mess hall for a proper introduction.”

Max admitted, that the small talk with the woman made him cheer up a tiny bit. But it wasn’t enough to stop the cold shiver that spread through him at the mere thought, that an android was going to take care of him through the whole summer.

The whole fucking summer.

 

 

.

 

 

What a chaotic day, Max was beyond worn out. And for once he was worn out for different reasons other than feeling mentally exhausted. Yet he found he couldn’t sleep and was more restless than anything. The heat also didn’t help anything. Even if the nights were obviously colder for scientific reasons. He soon found his body to be moving out of his tent to explore the place a bit.

He peeked out, no one in sight. Perfect.

He strolled a bit around the camp, hearing the many soft snores coming from the tents, but didn’t really pay too much attention to them.

 He was surprised to look up and to find thousands of stars hanging in the sky above him. They shone clear, close to illuminating the forest around him like hundreds of small lamps. They weren’t as visible in the city, if they were visible at all. Max never found the time to care about stars. He always had more important things to tend to or do something that could distract him.

He stared up at them, feeling the chill of the colder weather cuddle close to his overheated body. And suddenly he felt the same way when he had sat in the bus. Somewhat lost, overwhelmed with emotions that he couldn’t identify because he was just a stupid ten-year-old.

“Well it looks like somebody’s out of their bed.”

Max felt a hand touching his shoulder from behind and immediately jumped away from the foreign threat with a yelp. “Oh my fucking god-“ Max wheezed. The David android didn’t pay any mind to the fact he might’ve just now mildly traumatized the kid. He picked him up as if the boy didn’t weigh more than a feather. Max guessed that not actually having muscles and bones that could ache made everything easier. Max wasn’t _that_ tiny.

“Sneaking out already on your first day here? I sure hope this won’t become a habit, we can’t have kids running around on the camp grounds in the middle of the night!” David smiled, as he always did, and sounded as if he had just won millions in the lottery. So stupidly optimistic, Max seethed with hatred as he wiggled around in its grasp. “I wasn’t sneaking out, you dumb toaster! I just couldn’t sleep!” Max gasped but did not budge at all as he was forced to stare into those lifeless eyes of the machine.

“If you’re suffering from homesickness you should have come to me immediately, running around isn’t-“

“I’m _definitely_ not homesick, you fucking spaz- and put me the fuck down _right now_!” Max yelled, almost managing to kick the android in the arms, tearing savagely at the fingers, not concerned with if the thing actually feels some sort of pain, or if the ten-year-old will actually manage to break it somehow in some way. But the android doesn’t have any reaction to what he’s doing, which only feeds the boy’s irrational anger.

The android just stands there, letting the boy in his hands claw and bite at him like a wild, terrified animal. It’s clearly waiting the tantrum out, waiting for Max to double over in exhaustion at some point so it can take him back to his tent. Max wants to keep going, he wants to go all night. It’s as if he hasn’t had the chance to let all his anger out before in a long time, and it all decides to come out now. He doesn’t even know why he’s so angry at this point. If he is fighting an android or truthfully just fighting his own demons. And he knows it’s stupid, _he’s just a stupid ten-year-old._

The android’s presumed to be plan, wins in the end. Max is exhausted from thrashing around like crazy. There is only so long he can run on adrenaline when he was half-tired in the first place. The wiggling comes to a still and Max is eventually just hanging still in the air, as dead inside as a corpse.

The android smiles at him and places him gently back on the ground, Max being too embarrassed to look up at it for getting his temper up over nothing. The machine crouches down to his level, but it simply doesn’t matter how friendly it is towards him.

“If there is anything I can help with, make sure to tell me! Your problems are my priorities to fix.” It reaches out to give Max a friendly pat on his shoulder, but Max winces away like all the other times. It’s funny It hasn’t learned yet that he doesn’t like being near or being touched by it.

Max frowns deeply at his feet. It’s just fucking programmed to say that. He wonders in the back of his mind how many times it has repeated that sentence to other campers throughout the years. There’s no fucking way Max is a special flower.

“ _If_ I had problems, they wouldn’t be any of your fucking business.” Max grumbles.

“Language kiddo! Research by professionals show that swearing-“ Max holds up a palm to signal a stop. “Shut up, I don’t wanna hear it. I’ll go back to my tent if you promise to stop _saying_ that.”

The android smiled, pleased with the sudden co-operation coming from Max. “Alrighty! I hope to see you well rested in the morning then.” It waved goodbye as Max turned to make his way back to his tent. He was in a sour mood for the rest of the time until he fell asleep.

Fucking machines.

 

.

 

David quietly closes the cabin door as quietly as possible behind him as he walks into the small space, after having made sure that Max was back and safe in his tent for the night. A dark figure from the corner peeks up from under the covers, and as David was designed with adjustable advanced night vision to give him advantage in the dark woods, he knows It’s just Gwen. He turns on the light.

“I apologize, it wasn’t my intention to wake you up.” The android smiles, but much softer and surprisingly not as robotic as usually. Gwen squinted at the android. “Nah, I’ve been awake for a couple of minutes now. I couldn’t help but hear the fight outside.” She yawned.

David nodded as he sat on the opposite bed of Gwen who had turned her attention to him. “I wouldn’t call it a fight, but based on my observation, I can conclude that Max might I say, be defined as a troublemaker.”

“Was it the fact he used his spoon as a catapult to shoot at you with the expired chocolate pudding at dinner, or the way he almost caused a kid-version-revolution against androids- _specifically you_ , that opened your eyes?” she sent the android a flat look.

“My eyes are always open, in fact, I do not need to blink but was merely designed that way to blend more in with humans, and of course to not frighten the kids.”

Gwen smiled softly and made herself comfortable under the covers again. “Yeah yeah, you literal idiot. Now get some sleep- or whatever it is.”

“Androids don’t sleep-“

“ _Goodnight_ David.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> David: Please don't swea-
> 
> Max: Shut your whore mouth
> 
> Please do leave comments <3 I feed off them, they give me strength and I love discussing plot and ideas, and of course love hearing what you think of this so far! I'm starting out very soft with this story and slowly building up:)


	3. Loading, Loading

_MODEL: AA800_

_SERIAL#: 633_141_112_

_BIOS 7.4 REVISION 0483_

**_REBOOT…_ **

_”Are you completely sure this thing is working? It’s not responding at all. You probably gave it too many updates.”_

_“Man, these things are unbelievably expensive. Give it a chance, will you?”_

**_LOADING OS…_ **

_SYSTEM INITIALIZATION…_

_CHECKING BIOCOMPONENTS…      OK_

_INITIALIZING BIOSENORS…            OK_

_INITIALIZING AI ENGINE…              OK_

_“Something so expensive should work right away.”_

_“It’s_ processing _. Give it a_ chance _.”_

**_MEMORY STATUS…_ **

_ALL SYSTEMS                                  OK_

_READY_

_Silence drowns the room as if they were at the bottom of the ocean. Green, dull eyes, made out of nothing but manmade work, polished to perfection, opens to the grey world for the first time._

_“See? I told you it works.”_

_“Whatever, as long as this one doesn’t run off as well. If I could afford two of these tin cans in the first place, I wouldn’t dream of hiring a living human to take care of this hellhole of a camp. I have enough drama as it is.”_

_“Alright, AA800, register your name.”_

_A man steps in front of him, the core of his memory focusing on any little details as the man takes a long breath._

_“David, camp counselor assistant of Camp Campbell.”_

_._

Max hasn’t given up on escaping the camp yet, but he has stumbled to the realization that it wouldn’t be as easy as he originally had thought. The worst part is, that his little alliance with the science guy and the strangely green-haired wild girl seemed to have faded away in the spectrum of supporting his escaping issue. He wants to rip his hair out, fully believing he will have grey hairs as ten-years-old despite physics probably stating otherwise. An epiphany had taken its sweet time to bloom within the child, that he was indeed standing alone with his seething hatred as others basked in the attention of the camp’s only and favorite android, like neglected children and hungry for anything new in the society that pushes boundaries for likes, fame and anything compared to the usual. Maybe except for animal videos, those will probably never go out of style, he thinks.

Coffee is the only thing that causes his shattered energy to last through the day. His insomniac tendencies not accepted in the camp as he has been caught several times by now while wandering outside. Clearing his head makes him sleep better than staring at the ceiling of his lonesome tent, but that android is convinced there is a simple and better solution to anything, and maybe there is, but he differs that just keeping his eyes closed will help him lull into deep sleep, and he is _definitely_ not counting sheep, the boring part does not make him fall asleep, it’ll just make him _bored_ and awake.

He rubs his eyes and feels as sluggish as he did when he arrived nearly a week ago. The sun forces its sunlight through the bottom of the tent, Max immensely happy it generally does not shine through the dark-grey-green tent itself. It’s a normal morning and maybe even a bit of a good one, until the universe decides to kick his already lacking optimism, directly out of the window without a care in the world.

A hand forces the opening of the tent to the sides, and Max is trying his best to not let his eyes get burned with the brutal white light attacking his dark space. It’s only when he manages to pry his eyes open that his morning turns upside down.

The one and only camp android on the camp steps into his private space. David is holding a small box of something in his synthetic hand, but Max finds that less important to focus on at the moment. The android smiles at him but the smile of course, doesn’t reach his eyes, as he stalks closer to the bench that is placed opposite of the boy’s bed.

“Good morning, Max! Are you ready for another fantastic day at Camp Campbell?” the bot is trying to attempt to radiate as much positive energy as possible, probably to appear as friendly as possible, but the ten-year-old doesn’t fall for anything something is programed to say or do.

“What are you doing in my tent? We have another hour until gathering as far as I’m aware,” the boy taking a second to hold back several insults and curses to prevent the red-haired bot from spitting out its basic lecturing about children using foul language.

“You’re indeed correct, but I was hoping I could have a little chat with you before the day officially starts,” David explains. “It’s clear by now, that you experience trouble in relation to sleep, which is very serious as it’s recommended for kids your age to at least get ten hours of sleep, and frankly, I’m sure you’ve gotten below that number since your arrival,” it continues. Max is ready to just let whatever the piece of plastic has to say flow through his ear and out again. As if he would actually accept any of its advice or help, and he’s only still listening because it sounds as though the machine has a plan for him.

Max is tempted to make a remark about how it’s actually the android’s fault he lies sleepless nearly every night but decides to keep his mouth shut and humor the bot a little longer. He raises an eyebrow in challenge, and the robot continues as Max hasn’t said a word yet.

 “So, I think we should have a little talk about that, don’t you think?”

“Uhm, no,” Max deadpans.

“Maybe you feel that you’re in a ditch and can’t be helped out of it, but I think you’re underestimating my abilities. Help is always available, no matter how small you think an issue is, but lack of sleep is a big issue no matter what angle you view it from. Which is why for starters, I’m cutting off your accessibility to the camp’s coffee machine.”

Max shoots up from the bed with wide eyes. “What? You can’t do that!” he lamely accuses, slight panic tinted in his voice.

“Caffeine is not healthy for kids your age. I don’t know who allowed you to make such an addictive drink here on the camp grounds in the first place-“

“It was Gwen.”

“-but trust me when I say I know what’s best for you. Caffeine is not one of them nor is bottling things up.”

Max let out an angered sigh, irritation running in his veins and making him jittery. “You’re a stupid piece of plastic, you can’t know what’s good for me,” he gritted out from his clenched jaw. David didn’t seem fooled and placed the object he had been safely guarding in his hand on the bed beside Max, a juice box.

“Whatever you say, Max,” and the android proceeded to depart from the boy’s private space. To say that the ten-year-old wanted to scream was an understatement. He was furious. This, this machine had not only sort of figured him out, or was at least on the right path to, but was digging his grave and planning his funeral too. It was surely illegal to cause such a distraught emotion in a kid, at least in his personal book of mind games and rules. To be programmed into acting a character that others is supposed to trust blindly, and hand their next generation over to with smile and laughter, saying everything is going to be fine, but it’s not fine at all, Max knows this. He knows this society is bound to sink like the Titanic, and everyone will act surprised when they forcefully make contact with the iceberg, but he will have seen it coming. Nothing will surprise him. He is ready, and he is ready to fight because no android is going to look down upon him and attempt to give him the glance, the look of pity because he is just a stupid human, and he isn’t good enough.

David turns around, and all Max can think about is the empty smile that looks painted onto his face. He blinks and he breathes, but he isn’t human, and that’s all the reason he needs to let fire run through his veins without a care in the world.

Yet he feels confusion as well. It eats at him and it makes his heart hammer by every step the bot takes towards the exit. He shoots up, not exactly knowing what to say or why his body takes its chance to bring adrenaline to life. He opens his mouth to retort something, but it’s not his voice that rings through the thin walls of the tent.

“It would be appropriate to have you stay after dinner, so we can talk everything out and find a way to help you, so you’ll have an amazing summer together with everyone here at camp!” the android opens the front of the tent. There’s laughter ringing in the distance, clear evidence of his fellow campers being awake, birds singing and a ray of sunshine breaking into the dark space in the tent, but David doesn’t look back at Max. He stands there, boots tucked into the ground as if he could feel every vibration of life through his feet on the ground.

Max chuckles somewhat, bitterly, as if it really was more of a tickle in the back of his throat. “What’s with all this special treatment in the first place? It’s kind of creepy.”

“I can assure you that this has nothing to do with special treatment! It’s perfectly normal and it’s in my standard programming to ensure perfect order amongst anything in any specialization I’m set to. As a camp counselor for kids, I am responsible for your happiness, safety and health. In fact, it’s standard protocol to get to know every kid and make sure everything is alright, and to step in where help is needed, especially in the mental health department, which is why I am also such a flexible help, because of my many sets of skills I can download, such as a psychologist upgrade if needed. Think of me as a social worker.”

The kid’s eyes widened with raw realization. “What? I don’t get it; do you think I have some sort of serious problem or something?”

The android’s head turned towards Max, and Max found himself staring into the eyes of something that didn’t have the slightest twinkle of a soul, but something akin to an ember.

The already strained-looking smile pulled wider. “I think you’re struggling with something that’s weighing you down and holding you back from being the happy kid you should be. I’ve definitely noticed things during the week that makes it clear there are some issues present.”

And just like that, he was gone. The only thing left behind as a reminder of the meeting were the footprints in the dirt and the ache and anxiety that crept around in the raven’s chest and back.

The day progressed, but with a fairly slow pace that constantly worsened the heavy weight of anxiety in Max’ chest. The hot weather caused his worn hoodie to cling tighter to his skin, so he was mostly staying close to the shadows that could cool his headache and burning body.

“Do android’s even have opinions?” Nikki asks, her face set in complete amazement as she ruffles through David’s hair in the grass, the softness and realness of it bringing her in awe.

“My views on specific things are purely based on facts and what my programming and skills tell me,” David tries to explain unhelpfully.

“Isn’t that an opinion?”

Neil sighs from opposite from them. “No, something that can’t think for itself doesn’t have an opinion. That’s simply impossible.”

“David, what do you think of water?” the girl turns to the android with a frown.

“Water is considered a healthy chemical substance that is effective against dehydration!”

“See! He has an opinion!”

“Nikki, that’s literally just fact and science, you’re not proving your point.”

Max glares at the two traitors swarming around the plastic idiot out in the sun. He knows that dinner starts soon, and he feels nothing but restless and irritated, probably because of the major lack of sleep he had been experiencing lately.

“I don’t know, what do you think, Max?” Nikki shouts in Max’ direction, but he only shrugs, and strongly notices how even lifting his arms at this point feels too heavy.

“So, what does that AA stand for on your vest? Batteries?”

“Nikki, androids don’t use fucking batteries. They have thirium inside them, or blue blood as your simple mind may understand it better as, which powers an android’s biocomponents that keeps it running, and the AA800 model is an Adaptable Assistant, which means they have over hundreds of specialization skillsets they can be upgraded to, chefs, nurses, substitute teachers and much more.”

“Oh, so they have liquid batteries! That’s kind of cool.”

After the comical sound of Neil facepalming himself echoed in the otherwise quiet area and trying to explain to Nikki the difference between thirium and batteries, Max began tuning them out. He sits quietly, minding his own business and eventually everyone around him begins to disappear. Max concludes that dinner has started, but he feels far from hungry, rather filled on strange emptiness the ten-year-old doesn’t bother question. Instead, he lies in the grass that still lingers with warmth from having bathed in the glow of the sun. His petite frame is nearly a dot in the ocean of green, and it sometimes makes everything seem more serene when he realizes how big the world is, that something is always going on. Whether it’s birds singing or atoms flying around and doing their business.

He definitely feels that the caffeine has officially left his system without leaving too many consequences. He expected to feel a little jittery, but instead he just feels the weight of his eyelids pulling downwards.

He feels strangely peaceful. Perhaps it’s his subconsciousness finally coming to the realization that he’s officially far away from the origin of his worries, which might be the only reason why he feels like he won’t completely die in this camp by the end of summer, maybe.

 

.

 

“David, have you seen Max? He doesn’t seem like the type of person who would miss dinner,” Nikki tried to muffle out with a mouthful of food. David immediately found himself rising from his seat without question and tries to flash Nikki and Neil a smile, showing confidence in a worrisome situation to ease concern like his program tells him he should do.

“I’m sure he’s around somewhere. I’ll go check on him,” the android insisted and began its quest to find Max, stalking across the camp in darkness.

The android finds a still figure lying in the meadow where the counselor had been playing with the campers earlier that day. David easily detects if there’s movement from the wide distance, if there’s any need for CPR because of lack of breathing. Instead of the worst possible, he finds deep breathing, which is either a sign of comatose, or deep sleep, and he is sure it’s the less concerning part.

The machine steps closer with steady and perfect steps, calculated, not able to fall if a simple stone came in the way or a twig, and the android drops to its knees to check the little boy’s pulse. Everything seems to be in perfect order with an ordinary pulse and no sign of injuries. The theory that the boy most likely fell asleep from exhaustion appears to be the most possible explanation, and so the android carefully slides the boy into his arms and carries him back to his tent.

They could push their talk away for another time, he wasn't going to ruin the first baby steps he has observed since Max arrived. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh I'm not quite sure I like how this turned out. My brain is actually a bit unsure about how I'm going to go about this, but I'll hopefully figure it out with time. I may go back and edit this, maybe remove some parts or add something. I just wanted you guys to know I haven't forgotten about this story! I am just working on a bigger Camp Camp project.
> 
> I also wanted to say, come to the Camp Camp Amino, guys! It's awesome filled with supportive and creative people!


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